[DISCONTINUED] FIND YOU ( T. WALKING DEAD )

- XVI.

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FIND YOU

CHAPTER SIXTEEN;
( solace. )

❛ elijah finds himself in a familiar position. ❜

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"RICK WON'T LET you stay." The silence of the sunrise was shattered. "Not after what you and Merle did."

"And where is it y'all good people are calling home?!"

As soon as Elijah saw Merle raise his pistol, he raised his own, eyeing the man at his side carefully. He couldn't have cared less about the couple who stood before them; he wanted to keep his vigilance glued to Merle. After just having witnessed Merle shoot Gargulio in the forehead at point-blank, Elijah made sure to be compliant. Elijah was not, in any way, afraid of Merle. He was just afraid of not making it home.

The couple advanced just a few steps, guns raised. It was dead silent for just a second, before the man's eyes widened and he questioned, "Merle?" His face almost looked familiar, but Elijah couldn't seem to place him. Not when standing beside a murderer, guns pointed at two people he didn't even wish to harm.

Laughing, Merle lowered his gun to the ground, tossing it aside. "Wow!" he exclaimed, his hands now raised in surrender. However, the man and woman kept their guns raised, and so did Elijah.

As Merle began to approach excitedly, the woman tightened her grip on her pistol as she ordered, "Hey, back the hell up!"

"Okay, okay, honey!" he replied, slowing to a stop. He looked over his shoulder at Elijah, still standing a few feet behind him, gun raised. "Jesus, son, would you drop the gun? This is an old friend of mine!"

Elijah knew two things. One: that Merle didn't have friends. Two: Jack was going to absolutely kill him for following Merle's order. She specifically asked Elijah to be careful, but here Elijah was, hanging onto Merle's every word. That was his version of staying safe. That, or putting a bullet into the back of Merle's head right then - but that would be harder to explain.

Elijah lowered his gun, but never dropped it. That was just too idiotic to justify. Regardless, they all thought that Merle dropped his gun. In reality, he still had another behind his back, tucked beneath his waistband. It was all for show.

"You made it," the familiar man spoke, gun pointed directly to Merle's chest.

"Can you tell me," Merle started, "is my brother alive?"

Merle's brother... Elijah knew that he (whatever his name was) was a part of Jack's old group - at the farm. So did that mean that these two, also, were part of the same group? It was almost convincing enough to conclude, but Elijah decided to withhold judgment. "Yeah," the man answered.